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crystalline, translucent variety of quartz, having usually a whitish color, and a luster nearly like wax. [Written also calcedony.]

Any Old French epic poem having for its subject events or exploits of early French history, real or legendary, and written originally in assonant verse of ten or twelve syllables. The most famous one is the Chanson de Roland.

healing, speaking foreign languages without instruction, etc., attributed to some of the early Christians.

A peninsula; a tract of land nearly surrounded by water, but united to a larger tract by a neck of land or isthmus; as, the Cimbric Chersonese, or Jutland; the Tauric Chersonese, or Crimea.

An african ape (Anthropithecus troglodytes or Troglodytes niger) which approaches more nearly to man, in most respects, than any other ape. When full grown, it is from three to four feet high.

f the size of a large squirrel, remarkable for its fine fur, which is very soft and of a pearly gray color. It is a native of Peru and Chili.

An under garment among the ancient Greeks, nearly representing the modern shirt.

; sing. Choctaw. (Ethnol.) A tribe of North American Indians (Southern Appalachian), in early times noted for their pursuit of agriculture, and for living at peace with the white settlers. They are now one of the civilized tribes of the Indian Territory.

nic rocks; -- called also olivine and peridot. Sometimes used as a gem. The name was also early used for yellow varieties of tourmaline and topaz.

Any species of the genus Cicada. They are large hemipterous insects, with nearly transparent wings. The male makes a shrill sound by pecular organs in the under side of the abdomen, consisting of a pair of stretched membranes, acted upon by powerful muscles. A noted American species (C. septendecim) is called the seven…

Able to perceive clearly; keen; acute; penetrating; discriminating; as, a clear intellect; a clear head. Mother of science! now I feel thy power Within me clear, not only to discern Things in their causes, but to trace the ways Of highest agents. Milton.

Incised nearly to the midrob; as, a cleft leaf.

Nearly equal; almost evenly balanced; as, a close vote. "A close contest." Prescott.

Under way and moving as nearly as possible toward the direction from which the wind blows; -- said of a sailing vessel.

Any one of the spaces in the Milky Way which are very black, owing to the nearly complete absence of stars; esp., the large space near the Southern Cross sometimes called the Black Magellanic Cloud.

A mineral of a nearly silver-white color, composed of arsenic, sulphur, and cobalt.

ous, blue when dehydrated. Its solution is used for a sympathetic ink, the writing being nearly colorless when dried in the air, owing to absorbed moisture, and becoming bright blue when warmed.

The time at which cooks first crow; the early morning.

A palm tree producing the cocoanut (Cocos nucifera). It grows in nearly all tropical countries, attaining a height of sixty or eighty feet. The trunk is without branches, and has a tuft of leaves at the top, each being fifteen or twenty feet in length, and at the base of these the nuts hang in clusters; the cocoanut tr…

The bitter fruit of Cola acuminata, which is nearly as large as a chestnut, and furnishes a stimulant, which is used in medicine.